After a mishap in the great desert, a monster hunter finds himself in a world where hunting monsters is not as prevalent! Oh, and there are ponies too... ponies everywhere...
When a highly ranked monster hunter finds himself fighting a foe that none has defeated before he quickly realizes why, and after a crushing and life-threatening defeat he finds himself in a new world, one where there are no 'Monsters' as such and any creatures bearing any semblance of the title have gone extinct.
But when monsters from his own world start pouring into the world he was dragged into, he quickly finds that he is the only one that has the skills and knowledge to defeat them, armed with an an arsenal of weapons and a group of friends, he will set out to find out what is allowing these monsters access to this new world, and most importantly...
Why?
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Teen rating because of minor swearing and slight amounts of blood and guts
Ian secured the last strap on his Brachydios armor, the glowing red of the portions on the armor lit up the small but dark quarters in the dragonship he sat in, he reached for the large silver lance propped up by the wall, he opened the ammunition compartment of the World's Demise gunlance and started polishing the metal compartments of the heavy piercing weapon, a knock sounded from his door.
"Ian mate, we're approaching the Jhen Mohran, head up top when you get ready." Came the voice of one his fellow hunters on this mission, a large Jhen Mohran had appeared in the Great Desert heading for the desert city of Loc Lac.
Ian stood up and clasped the lance shut and ran a hand along the length of the weapon, before picking up the large matching shield beside him in his left hand, he opened the door, the crew were running frantically in the small crew quarters below the deck, Ian calmly strode up the stairs to the deck and quickly spotted the large Elder Dragon approaching the ship.
Quickly it was obvious it was not the usual species of Jhen Mohran, Ian frowned, the large whale-like sand dragon was usually much less aggressive-looking, with a pair of tusks and a a more smooth hide, this one, however, was different, spines lined the body, and the two tusks were replaced with a long, ridged, knife-like horn.
"Th-That's not a normal Jhen." Stammered one of the other hunters, Ian glared at the large creature on the horizon.
"No matter, our mission is to prevent it from destroying Loc Lac, and that is just what we shall do." Ian said, readying his gunlance, the captain of the ship stepped up beside them
"That is no normal Mohran." The Captain shook his head, "'Tis a Daren Mohran, a more. Aggressive subspecies, we should send a faster ship back to tell the city to evacuate." Ian nodded.
"Agreed, send a fast small ship back to the city to begin evacuations, if we succeed, then no worries, if we fail." Ian paused for a moment, "let us not think of that outcome." the others steeled their gazes and nodded before readying their weapons, it would be a long fight.
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"Aaaand done" Came the voice of a lavender unicorn, a large circle had been drawn on the floor in chalk, a large complex magical circle for a spell to view other worlds, Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood along the outsides of the circle.
"So what kinds of worlds can we see Twilight? I wanna see an alternate version of me!" said Rainbow Dash, who struck a heroic pose, Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend's antics.
"I have no control over what we see Rainbow, I would need to write the 'address' as it were to do that, and I don't know any specific alternate worlds" Twilight explained to her egotistical friend, Rainbow just pouted, Twilight took her position to cast the spell, "get ready girls, I'm about to open the window" Twilight said as she lit her horn.
The chalk runes lit up, one by one, inside the circle, and slowly, color bled into the middle, opening a window viewing a large ship sailing on sand. Explosions boomed as cannonballs flew from cannons towards a large spiked creature, a bipedal creature aimed a bow at the large creature, multiple large arrows flew from the weapon and bounced off the hide of the monster.
Twilight and her friends gasped as they saw the battle taking place in a large desert, the window zoomed in on one of the creatures with a red glowing bug-like exoskeleton wielding a large silver lance and shield that seemed to be directing the other bipeds.
The large creature submerged itself under the sand and the bipeds looked around frantically for the monster, the bug-like one spotted it rising from the sand in the distance and face the front of the ship, in a single movement he folded his lance in two and placed it on his back and ran for a large button on the deck at the front, he picked up a large sledgehammer and looked towards the large creature.
"What is he doing!?" Rainbow yelped, the girls watched as the monster charged at the ship, it's large knife-like horn pointed at the ship, ready to skewer it, as it got close the biped slammed the hammer down on the button. a second later a large spear burst it's way out of the front of the ship and slammed into the creature, parrying the large knife and stabbing the monster in the side of the face.
As the spear retracted the monster roared in pain before submerging once more, another roar came in the distance and the bipeds turned to it, the monster rose from the sand once more and charged again, the one with the bow dashed for a large crossbow on the side of the boat and grabbed a bolt before nocking it to the large construct.
As the creature neared the ship the biped taking aim fired, large bolts tied to ropes shot out of the ship and imbedded themselves into the creature, it roared once more as it writhed in pain, one of the others, wielding a pair of sharp swords fired the cannon once more at the creature as the bowman shot more arrows.
As the monster's horn leveled with the ship the lance-man jumped onto the creature's back and ran along to a large crack in the spine of the monster, he stabbed at the weak spot in the creatures armor a few times before slamming it down, the creature pulled a small trigger on the handle and the tip of the lance erupted in explosions, knocking him back a step.
Rainbow Dash looked on in pure awe at the creature hefting such a large weapon with ease, the creature once more leveled it's spear with the crack, this time a bright white jet of flame came from the tip of the weapon, after a few seconds the weapon exploded in a large flame, pushing the biped back a few steps, a compartment opened up on the side of the lance, glowing bright red with heat and steaming heavily.
The monster roared and writhed in pain and the biped was thrown off it's back into the air, the girls watched as the creature threw it's head up and then quickly slashed through the air, the large bone protrusion easily sliced through the hardwood of the ship, the girls watched in horror as the ship tumbled over the sand, breaking and flinging bipeds everywhere.
Carnage was an understatement at the wreckage of the ship, wood and blood was everywhere, multiple unarmored bipeds were crushed under heavy wood, others had lost limbs, and even a few had been speared by wood and arrows, the survivors mourned the losses, the window moved to the armored one that was thrown off the back of the monster and slowly neared his wounded body.
What the girls didn't expect was for the window bring the biped to them, as the window neared his body, he slowly came through, still unconscious, the window closed once he was through. the girls cautiously approached him.
"Is... is it dead?" Rainbow Dash whispered, Fluttershy slowly approached the head of the creature and listened, she could barely make out a ragged breathing, the timid pegasus looked to her rainbow maned friend.
"It... is alive" she squeaked, afraid of the creature, she jumped as an audible groan was heard from the biped, it's hand slowly reached for a pouch hanging from it's waist, it grabbed a murky brown potion, brought it to it's head and then grabbed the sides of it's head and pulled up.
The girls inaudibly gasped at what appeared to be it's head came off, underneath was a head similar to the armor-less bipeds, it's hair was long and black, it's grizzled face that was once handsome was in a grimace, it lifted the brown potion to it's mouth and swallowed the entire mixture.
The creature sighed after taking the potion and then sat itself up and opened it's eyes.
'What... what the hell!?' Ian was stunned when he opened his eyes, he didn't think of the temperature difference to the Great Desert, as he was not thinking at full capacity with the wounds he just healed, but now that he was healed.
Ian knew he was no longer in his own world, as these creatures did not exist there, most creatures were of singular colors at home... these creatures were easily more polychromatic, plus their faces... those faces seemed so much more expressive than a Jaggi's.
Ian's hand instinctively went to his World's Demise at the sight of these creatures, and they reacted by flinching, one of the six's expression quickly changed though, the rainbow maned, cyan coated one spread wings and charged.
In a single swift movement Ian drew his gunlance and stabbed forwards.
In just as swift a movement, the butter yellow winged one pushed it's cyan fellow out of the way of the stab.
The super sharp point however, was stopped in midair, Ian looked at it dumbfounded before noticing a magenta glow around the tip, glancing up he noticed one of the horned creatures' horn was lit up with the same glow, and it's face looked strained, Ian withdrew his gunlance from the repulsing glow, he quickly reassessed his situation.
From his observations they seemed to be protective of their own, like a mother Rathian, but not in the way a Rathian was, he also noticed three distinct 'species' or 'races' of them, two had horns, another two had wings and the last two had neither, but looked physically stronger, and if he was right, the horned ones had some sort of telekinetic powers.
Ian took his usual stance when approaching a creature that he did not know how it acted, his shield in-front and his lance peeking out the side of the shield, ready to strike, like a coiling Lagiacrus. one of the creatures, a bright pink strong one, approached slowly, like a curious dog, extending it's muzzle towards him.
once it's muzzle bypassed his shield, it sniffed him, and then, it's body shot forwards putting itself back in line with it's head, and then it took in a long breath, before spouting the craziest series of words Ian had ever heard before.
"Hi!I'mPinkiePie!What'syourname!?Doyoulikecake!?Doyoulikeparties!?Doyouliketomoveitmoveit!?huh?huh?huh?" Ian was stunned, not only could it talk, but it could do so in a single breath and almost incomprehensibly at that, luckily, thanks to years of being grouped up with over-eager rookies, Ian knew how to discern words out of a jumble, and he answered the creature's questions as calmly as possible.
"My name is Ian, cake is rare where i am from, hence i have not eaten it, yes, i do like celebrations and what is that supposed to mean?" Ian answered all the questions in order, the other five creatures' jaws dropped at how calmly he answered such an incomprehensible muddle that calmly, while the pink one adopted a serious face and dashed off, leaving a cloudy afterimage, Ian folded and sheathed his World's Demise upon his back and took up a normal stance.
The Lavender horned creature shook it's head and stepped forwards towards Ian, it extended a foreleg towards him as if wanting a handshake, Ian kneeled down, took one of his gauntlets off and shook it's foreleg with a firm grip before standing once more, again, the remaining four creatures' jaws dropped at the politeness of what seemed to be a bug-like brute.
"My name is Ian, Master rank Hunter of the Monster Hunter's guild" Ian said with a sweeping bow before standing back up to full height, the lavender one took the lead in her side's introductions.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am the personal student of Princess Celestia and local Librarian" Twilight said, introducing herself to their otherworldly visitor, doing a small pony version of a curtsey, Ian smiled at this, giving off a small chuckle.
"No need to be formal Miss Sparkle, i simply have a flair for the dramatic, please, be yourselves" the bipedal hunter said, earning a sigh of relief from the rainbow maned one who had charged him, Twilight blushed slightly before standing straight once more and pointing at he friends while introducing them in turn.
Ian was intrigued, these creatures had such interesting naming conventions, and their names seemed to fit too, the rainbow maned cyan one was called Rainbow Dash and was apparently the fastest flier around, the yellow maned orange one was called Applejack and ran a nearby apple orchard, the purple maned white one was named Rarity and ran the local fashion boutique, the pink maned butter yellow one was named Fluttershy, was incredibly shy and ran an animal sanctuary and the pink one who shot out the door was aptly named Pinkie Pie and worked at a nearby confectioners.
After introductions were over, Twilight decided to ask some questions, in almost the same way Pinkie did, Ian could tell that the lavender librarian loved learning and agreed to answer her questions, the questions started out easy, simple questions such as 'what are you', but quickly, they descended into harder to answer questions, starting with 'what are Monster Hunters and why is there a guild for them'.
"It... is hard to explain what a Monster Hunter is without first explaining what kinds of creatures inhabit our world" Ian explained, "but I will begin with the basics" he said, retrieving a medium sized handbook from his pouch, he flicked it open to a page inhabited by a drawing of a Great Jaggi and a few Jaggi and Jaggia, the ponies all grouped around the picture, small gasps of wonderment erupted from Fluttershy and Twilight at seeing pictures of foreign animals.
"These are an example of one of the most simple of monster, the small ones are called Jaggi, are the bulk of the pack and are all male, the larger ones are Jaggia, the females of the species, and lastly, the large one is the Alpha male, called a Great Jaggi, these species are mostly seen as pests and the Great Jaggi can stand twice myself when they stand upright" Ian explained, Rainbow looked surprised at the description of the species.
"These guys are the 'pests'? they're humongous!" she exclaimed, Ian chuckled at her before returning to his explanation.
"These are literally the smallest of all the monsters, Jaggi are ruthless and powerful in packs, but they pose no threat to most Hunters, their teeth and claws barely even scratch simple metal armour, but they can be even more dangerous than most if you are facing off against a much larger monster at the same time" Ian explained before flipping to another page showcasing a much larger specimen, it was a large muscular behemoth of a creature, it's lower jaw and spine were peppered with short spines.
"This behemoth is known as Deviljho or sometimes as 'the great devourer', it can reach heights of 40 metres tall, and that is not counting when it stands upright, it is one of the most dangerous, but not even the largest, not by far" Ian shook his head, he had faced off against one of the largest and eldest known Deviljho in all of written history, but it was still no match for the monstrosity that was the Daren Mohran.
The girls looked on in horror and the creature detailed on the page as they imagined in their minds what a creature that large would look like, they had seen humongous dragons in their time as heroes, but never had they seen such an evil looking creature.
From outside panicked screams could be heard, startling the mares out of their daytime nightmares, Ian's head whipped towards the door, through the hysterical screaming of the ponies he could hear familiar sounds.
The warbling cries of a Great Jaggi calling to it's pack.
Ian hastily put his Gauntlet and Helm back upon himself and kicked open the door of the Library, the wooden jamb splintering with the force behind the limb, he looked towards the direction that the panicking ponies ran from and quickly spotted his prey, the large carnivorous raptor was charging through what looked like a marketplace, a pair of Jaggi following him and snapping at the heels of the fleeing equines.
The armored human quickly jumped to action swinging his lance ad sending a Jaggi flying into the side of a building, this quickly gained him the attention of the Alpha male, it growled and barked at him, but it did not faze him, the hunter had many slain Great Jaggi under his belt, the large frilled lizard let out it's warbling call.
What startled Ian the most was the reply it got, five more calls sounded back, one the same, but the other four made of two different tone variations, out from a few intersecting streets burst more monsters, one was another Great Jaggi and it's Jaggi entourage, but the others were slightly different.
The first was an orange variation of the purple Jaggi with a bulging purple sac around it's throat, this subspecies was known as the Great Wroggi, a variant of it's purple cousin that spews poison, each Alpha was accompanied by it's smaller brethren, simply known as Wroggi.
The third species was a dark blue color with an icy blue underbelly, it sported a Mohawk-like crest on it's head, this species, known as the Great Baggi, lived in the tundra and had it's own ability, the Baggi and their Alphas could spit globs of a chemical that could render the victim in a painless coma as the Baggi feasted on it's still warm flesh.
Never before had Ian seen all three subspecies in one place before, due to their usual habitats being so far between, being deserts, forests and the tundra respectively, Ian extended his lance as the six large carnivorous raptors and their inferior counterparts circled him, barking their own warbled cries at the hunter, he wasn't used to this many large monsters focusing on him at once.
But the calm before the storm of the predators circling their chosen prey was short lived as a small flying cyan blur charged for one of the Great Jaggi and kicked it in the face, as the blur retreated to Ian's side he recognized it as Rainbow Dash, he scowled from under his helm at the brash pegasus mare.
"Rainbow, that was a bad move, you just angered not one, but six large monsters, two of which spit poison and another two spit a numbing agent, not to mention the two smaller counterparts of each of them." he stated calmly to the speedster, whom was sporting a determined look, she looked to the armored hunter with a scowl.
"As if I'm going to leave all the glory of protecting Ponyville to you, besides, you need somepony watching your back while you are surrounded" she said, a fire burning in her rose eyes, Ian chuckled before glancing at the cyan mare.
"Try not to be left behind then Rainbow, because it looks like shit is gonna get real" the armored warrior quipped as he charged the nearest circling raptor, he slammed his lance into the side of the Great Wroggi's poison sac, a small burst of poisonous gas escaped it's jaws as it recoiled from the blow, just as quickly, Rainbow Dash unleashed a flurry of hooves into the Great Jaggi beside it, making the large raptor skip back a step as it barked in annoyance.
With that the combat began in earnest, Ian spun to block a glob of numbing agent spat by one of the Great Baggis as Rainbow Dash flew over a cloud of poisonous gas spat by the second Wroggi, as the remaining raptors charged and leaped at the duo.
Rainbow bucked at a Jaggi that leaped high enough to snap at her as Ian rolled out of the way of a lunging duo of Baggis, another pair of ponies decided to join in on the fray, charging at the larger monsters from behind before pivoting and bucking them.
Ian took notice of the brawl's newcomers, one was Applejack, with her iconic stetson, while the other was new to him, this new pony was bright red and much larger than the two lithe mares also participating in the combat, this new pony also had a more angular snout than any of the mares and wore a large wooden yoke around it's neck, sprouting out from between it's lips was a long piece of straw.
Rainbow Dash also took notice of the newcomers and called out to them.
"AJ! Big Mac! watch out for the orange ones, they spit poison! and the blue ones put you to sleep!" the brash mare called out as she whipped her hooves at the smaller raptors that were jumping and snapping at her.
"Thanks fer the advice RD! we'll keep that in mind!" Applejack replied as she dodged a snap from a Great Wroggi, the red pony simply replied with a deep, rumbling 'eeyup' as he stared down a growling Great Baggi.
Ian grunted at the onslaught of the Great Wroggi and Baggi upon his shield, he forced the large orange monster to back off with another smack from his lance, he growled at his ineptitude against multiple foes at once.
"Darnit! this weapon was never built for combat against this many monsters! i need my damned switch axe!" he growled, at that moment, a bright bust of light blinded him and his foe, once his vision returned, Ian was shocked to see his most powerful switch axe of the fire element.
In his hands he held the powerful Crimsidian switch axe, a powerful axe crafted from the parts of a Dire Miralis, with a grin on his face the armored warrior switched his axe into Sword Mode, adjusting his grip and stance as the weight of the blade shifted, with a powerful upward slice he sent the pair of smaller raptors flying into the air, with a powerful horizontal swing he cut into the poisonous sac upon the Great Wroggi's throat, bursting it apart.
Finally, with a powerful stab into the gut of the creature, Ian activated the explosive expulsion of the substance powering the powerful swings of Sword Mode, the pulses of power into the monster's gut quickly increased in severity before exploding violently, blowing the beast back and creating a sizable hole in it's bowels as the weapon switched back into Axe Mode.
One was down, but Ian knew that the fight was only just beginning.
Ian charged at the next raptor after the first fell, his cold remorseless helm portraying the feelings he felt towards the pests, he ruthlessly severed the heads of the remaining Jaggi and sliced a large hole into the side of one of the Great Jaggi, Rainbow Dash stared gobsmacked at the warrior from her elevated position, the bipedal warrior was remorselessly killing the saurian creatures that would lunge at him.
She quickly noticed a red glow upon Ian's right hand, an aura of eerie red power fluxuated with each strike, with a roar of his own, the armored paragon swung violently at his foes, Rainbow wondered where he had gotten his new red glowing weapon but was brought back to the present when an overeager Wroggi used another as leverage to jump up at her, she quickly kicked it back down with a well placed hoof.
Ian was feeling a rush of power with every swing, the power of his Challenger armor skill was sensing an enraged monster and sent him into a frenzy, the warrior enjoyed this feeling, especially when it was combined with the equally addictive power of the Adrenaline+ skill, with a powerful swing he severed the head of the Great Jaggi he wounded and danced into his next swing, sending the remaining Baggi flying.
Rainbow looked over to Applejack and her brother, each fighting one of the larger monsters, with a well timed duck, they caused the Great Baggi and Great Wroggi to swallow eachother's saliva projectiles, the Great Wroggi groggily fell to the ground after being hit with the sleeping agent and the Great Baggi's insides started to slowly liquefy due to the power of the intense poison it inhaled.
The large red stallion swung a powerful hoof into the side of the Great Baggi's head, knocking it unconcious, they then looked over to the frenzying warrior, they witnessed him severing the heads of the Wroggi just to get to the remaining Great Baggi, with a roar he quickly went into a powerful combo, swapping between the heavier Axe Mode and the sharper Sword Mode to quickly dispatch the blue raptor.
The mares were horrified at how cold the seemingly polite creature was when in combat, the warrior charged at the last standing creature, the last surviving Great Jaggi barked it's warbling cry at the blood covered biped, Ian replied with a roar of his own as he swung his weapon down upon the raptor's neck, with a wet impalation the head fell upon a nearby statue as the still standing body swayed before falling upon it's side.
With a bright flash Ian's weapon was once more replaced with his World's Demise gunlance as he placed the large folding weapon upon his back, he strode over to the two unconsious monsters lying beside the ponies that knocked them out.
He looked to the slowly dying Great Baggi and pulled his weapon back off his back, he strode to the side of the poisoned beast and skewered it through the skull, ending it's life, the armored warrior then kneeled down beside the beast, hands together in silent prayer.
However, Applejack was now furious towards the human warrior and stormed up beside him, she tapped him on the shoulder plate with a hoof and waited for the warrior to turn and face her, finishing off his silent prayer Ian removed his helm and looked to the farm pony, Applejack took this as a way of asking her what she wanted, so she started her rant.
"Now what was that fer!? The poor creature was incapacitated!" She sternly said to the six foot tall warrior, Ian silently sighed at Applejack's naievety and looked her in the eye.
"Applejack, that 'poor creature' attacked and possibly killed innocent ponies today, and not only that, the poison was slowly liquefying it's organs, I simply put an unconsious but suffering monstous creature out of it's misery, these creatures deserve no sympathy, if they were to continue their rampage, many would die, most, if not all monsters I fight have no sense of 'right' and 'wrong'" Ian explained to the angered mare, when these words sunk in she realized what she was trying to defend was not only a monster in appearance, but nature too, she looked away from Ian, disappointed with herself.
Ian put a comforting hand upon her withers, Applejack looked to the warrior, whom shook his head before speaking once more.
"I never expected that this world had seen the kinds of monstrosities I see daily at all, it was right of you to defend a creature you have never encountered or even heard of before" He explained, this gave Applejack a small smile, a small gasp nearby made us turn to the source.
Standing nearby was a very distraught Fluttershy, looking upon the raptor corpses strewn across the street, a tear welled up from her tear ducts, and before they knew it, she was flying in a seemingly random direction, a concerned Rainbow Dash looked over to Ian, wordlessly telling the warrior, whom was about to charge after the butter pegasus, that she would handle it.
Wordlessly Rainbow Dash flew off after her friend as Twilight, Rarity and a small purple and green bipedal reptile walked up towards the carnage, horrified at the sizable pile of raptor corpses lining the street, Ian could see the unspoken question behind Twilight's eyes, he decided he would answer it.
"A pair of Great Jaggi and their cousins ran through town, attacking ponies, I stopped them as is my job" the warrior stated emotionlessly, "Rainbow Dash, Applejack and the red stallion helped me defeat them, one is still alive however and I would reccommend binding it with your most powerful rope and placing it in a large stone cell if you wish to study it" He said, pointing towards the unconsious Great Wroggi, Twilight was still shaken up over the raptor corpses, then she asked the one other question he was expecting.
"W-why? why did you have to kill them?" the lavender unicorn asked, Ian looked towards the first Great Jaggi's corpse, the one housing a large cavity in it's abdomen, and sighed.
"Great Jaggi and their poisonous and icy cousins are ruthless, they never stop when they get a whiff of their prey, the only time they retreat is when they are gravely wounded, they are little more than mindless" He said, a slight edge to his voice, he glared at the headless Great Jaggi corpse, "I have seen many rookie hunters become gravely injured because they underestimated the enemy we face daily, Jaggi and their kin are by far the most stupid creatures we face, and a lot of rookie hunters make the mistake of thinking all creatures stupid" He looked at Twilight once more, she looked like she was thinking heavily about what the hunter was saying.
Ian started to walk towards the unconsious Great Wroggi and knelt down beside it and retrieved a heavy rope he used to bind monsters he was tasked with capturing and started to firmly bind the poisonous predator's jaws, claws and legs so that when it woke up it would not be able to escape, he sighed before looking towards Twilight again.
"I would highly recommend contacting the highest authority possible to come collect the bodies and the live Wroggi, best to dispose of the remains properly, also contacting the authorities would allow you to alert them to possibly more unknown creatures around the world" he said, the lavender unicorn slowly nodded in reply, the possibilities and revlations still running through her academically inclined mind.
"Of course, it would be best to contact Princess Celestia and let her know what has happened today" she said, trailing off at the end, Ian nodded slightly.
"I remember you mentioning that you are the personal student of a princess, must be quite a privelege to know the royal family on such a personal level" he stated, glancing over to the unicorn, Twilight blushed faintly.
"Well, it's nothing to brag about, but my elder brother is married to the Princess' neice, whom was my foalsitter when i was younger" she said bashfully, Ian raised an eyebrow as he removed his helmet.
"Nothing to brag about? I myself may be one of the highest ranked hunters on my world, but it is rare to have such connections to a ruling power" he stated, kneeling down beside the dead Great Wroggi, he grabbed a phial from his pouch and filled it with a small amount of Wroggi venom before stowing it away once more, he then moved over to one of the Great Baggi and repeated his action, filling a second phial with it's saliva.
He stood and looked over to Twilight, whom seemed to be writing a letter already, a quill and parchment in her telekinetic grip, scribbling away, Ian decided rest would be in order as he sat down, his back resting against a water fountain he did not notice during the combat, the water was dyed scarlet and the impecable marble statue of a large winged unicorn was splattered with blood, a constant stream of blood tainted water spraying from it's mouth and a Jaggi's head impaled on the horn.
Ian had been granted a bed in Twilight's library for the night, the reply Twilight had received from the Princess stated that due to the late hour of the day(the sun was setting once the letter had been sent, after at least three checks for mistakes), it would be best to head for the capital city of Canterlot on the morrow, Twilight assured that Princess Celestia would send a train with an armored cell for the Wroggi as well as a few guards for extra protection.
After Twilight had moved the sleeping raptor into her basement(which was armored due to the volatile nature of some of her experiments, Ian later wondered why she did not test the spell that had summoned him in there rather than the main room), Ian decided to clean his Armour of the blood in Twilight's bathroom(Spike would later complain that he could not take a bath as the bathtub was stained red due to the blood) and afterwards had settled in for the night.
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Ian awoke in the morning to the sound of birds chirping, the smell of pancakes being cooked, and loud music being blasted by one of Twilight's neighbors, needless to say, Ian was unsure what kind of mood to be in, due to the mixed feelings he gained from his various senses.
He replaced his armor upon his form and walked down the stairs of the living library(needless to say, Ian was astounded when he was told that the library was still growing, and would eventually create more rooms once it was larger) and followed his nose, which led him straight to the kitchen table, where he encountered a sleepy Twilight guzzling coffee down and Spike preparing the mouthwatering breakfast delight that Ian rarely had the pleasure of tasting.
"Good morning Twilight, Spike" Ian said politely as he sat on a short and sturdy stool made of a tree stump Twilight had retrieved from the basement for him(hilarity ensued the night before as the sheer weight of his armor caused a chair to crumble underneath him), the lavender unicorn cordially nodded in his direction, still nursing the quite large mug she was guzzling from(it was a humongous thing, as thick as spike's head and as tall as spike himself, from his frill to his toes and mare completely from apple wood, a barrel for all intents and purposes).
"Morning Ian, breakfast is almost ready" Spike said, sparing a small glance towards the warrior as he flipped the latest fluffy disc a second time before putting it on a nearby plate with a few pancakes already on it, Ian noticed a second plate upon the table, the remains of a small stack of pancakes sat upon it, waiting to be cleaned off.
Spike quickly finished off another pancake and placed it on top of the waiting stack, before pouring an orange syrup on top and garnishing with a small pat of butter, he placed the plate as well as a knife and fork in front of Ian before returning to the stove top, crushing a red gemstone and placing the shards into the remaining pancake mixture(Ian was again astounded when he first was told that Spike ate gemstones, and that they were uncannily common enough to be a staple of fashion for the ponies), the young drake then continued to make himself a plate of gemstone pancakes.
Needless to say, Ian dug into the stack of syrupy pancakes with little restraint, as the life of a monster hunter rarely gave one time to slowly enjoy their food, whether in town or in the field, one never knew when they would be called up for a mission or if a monster was nearby, Spike looked back as he finished cooking his second gemcake to see the hunter almost slam his cutlery on the table before giving a belch.
"Looks like someone enjoyed their breakfast" the dragonling quipped with a raised eyebrow as he watched Ian pat his stomach, a content look on his face, he then smirked at the purple dragon.
"I rarely get the chance to indulge myself like that, t'was great my good drake, i bet you could give the cooks in Loc Lac a run for their money" the warrior said, scratching at his chin, the drake in question looked away bashfully and returned to cooking his own breakfast, he looked over to Twilight before speaking again, "so what time do we depart for Canterlot?" the warrior asked.
"Not too long, the girls should be here soon, and then the eight of us will get on the train, a unicorn i am giving special lessons to will look after the library while we are gone" Ian took all this in as he stood from the table once more before heading upstairs to retrieve his gear from beside the guest bed.
Once he had attached his World's Demise to his back and the accompanying shield to his gauntlet he picked up his helmet before heading downstairs once more, once he reached the foyer the five mares had already arrived, but with a few extra ponies.
"I'm sorry Darling, but i couldn't just leave Sweetie Belle all alone, our parents are still on their latest vacation, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh were also coming" Rarity explained, Twilight sighed slightly as she looked over the four extra ponies that would be going to Canterlot with them.
"It's alright, it's not as if anything bad will happen in Canterlot, but having the Crusaders come with us increases the chances of trouble" Twilight replied, the three younger ponies smiling angelically, Ian could almost envision halos appearing above their heads, the larger red pony nodded stoically at the warrior, whom nodded back(the two seemed to had grown a comradery of sorts after the battle before introducing themselves to each other, the stallion also later stated that he had come along to keep his younger sisters out of trouble).
"Well, we don't really have much time to complain about what could happen, the train should be arriving in the station soon, we should collect that Wroggi thing from the basement and start heading there now" Spike said, Twilight nodded as she went downstairs to retrieve the raptor.
-----------------------
It didn't take long before the group of ten ponies, a baby dragon, a sleeping Great Wroggi and a monster hunter were on their way to the train station, oddly enough, Ian noticed the three fillies(Ian's ears still hurt after their collective introduction as the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders') all walked very closely to Spike, whom didn't seem to notice the attention he was getting by three girls his own age.
During their trek to the train station the large group had encountered many friends and the like, from the young unicorn Amethyst Star and her younger sister Dinky Hooves telling Twilight that they were heading to the library to Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Applejack's cousin Caramel Apple(whom tried to hide tripping as he walked up to the group) heading off to the apple orchard to do some work while the apple siblings were out of town for the day.
During the walk, Ian took notice that two of the large group were not talking all that much, Fluttershy was the acceptable of the two, as Twilight had mentioned that the shy pegasus rarely talked in such large groups, and when she did she was barely heard at all, the other however, was making even her close friend Rainbow Dash nervous, as the eccentric pink mare Pinkie Pie had not spoken a word and was deep in thought(oddly enough, Ian thought he could feel her gaze linger upon him in her thoughtful phase).
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Once they reached the train station, the train was already pulling up to the platform, it seemed to be a military transport with a large cell attached to the back before the caboose, a small group of guards came out of the train to address the group, each had pure white coats, blue manes and golden armor, half of them were also mares, there were two representatives of each race in the squad, a fourth stallion came out of the train, this one also had a pure white coat, but his mane and tail were two toned blue, and his armor was accented by a pink star burst upon the lapel, upon his flank, unlike the other guards, was a blue shield behind a pink star burst much like Twilight's.
"Shiny!" Twilight exclaimed once she saw the fourth stallion, whom smiled at the sight of the lavender mare.
"Twiley!" he replied as Twilight ran up to him to give him a hug, the Great Wroggi still floating in the air behind her.
"What are you doing here BBBFF? i thought you were still in the crystal empire with Cadance?" the unicorn mare asked, Ian looked quizzical at the abbreviation, but he quickly deduced that this stallion was Twilight's elder brother whom was married to a princess.
"Princess Celestia said we had a beast and a VIP to transport, so i thought, 'why not? gotta keep Twiley safe'" 'Shiny' said with a smile to his little sister, Twilight was not amused with her elder brother.
"I can take care of myself for your information, Shining Armour" the lavender unicorn said, a hint of agitation in her voice, then she smiled once more giving him a familial nuzzle, "but it is good to see you nonetheless" she said, Shining Armour looked to the floating Wroggi.
"I'm guessing the raptor thing goes in the cell?" he asked, Ian took this as his chance to give the stallion a warning as he stepped forwards.
"Yes, but be careful when it wakes up, it can and will spit clouds of poisonous gas at you" the warrior said, making his presence known to the six guards and the ex-guard prince, whom raised an eyebrow at the unusually armored biped.
"And you must be this 'monster hunter' we are escorting, your armor and weapon look impressive, if unwieldy" came another voice from the train, out from the train stepped an older looking pegasus guard, his stature matching, if not exceeding Big Macintosh's, his grizzled and scarred muzzle gave him the air of someone you would not want to mess with, his coat was a dark burgundy and his armor looked much more protective than the golden armor of the identical guards, with full plates all along his back and sides, the armor was as equally marred as the stallion's face, it looked as though it had seen as much, if not more battle than the stallion himself, painted onto the plates over his flank was his cutie mark, a full helmet with a pair of spears crossed behind it.
"Name's Full Guard, I've heard much about you from what the princess told me her student put in her letter" the grizzled pegasus said, looking up at Ian, despite most ponies barely reaching his waist, Ian was surprised when the large stallion's head reached his chest, even the stallion's voice was about as booming as the man that taught the hunter all he knew.
"I admire a stallion who can kill a foe and not have nightmares, and from what the letter mentioned, you have seen enough to give even the most grizzled guard in all of history nightmares" the large stallion said, a large amount of admiration in the voice, "now come, tell me stories of your conquests on the train ride" he stated before marching back onto the train, needless to say, Ian was intrigued that there was enough battle to create such a grizzled warrior and followed the large stallion into the grossly undersized train car.
Throughout the train ride, the grizzled General, Full Guard, shared war stories with the equally grizzled Monster hunter and his companions, Ian was surprised at how much combat there was in such a seemingly safe place, the old guard had faced enemies ranging from the bipedal mongrels, Diamond Dogs, to massive Dragons and survived every encounter, Ian was impressed, it was a list of foes as large as his own, and all done by a quadrupedal creature.
The train ride was calming to the warrior, but he couldn't help think about what other species of monster had arrived alongside the Jaggi cousins, he was dreading what would happen if one of the more dangerous species such as a Raging Deviljho or an Abyssal Lagiacrus, he feared what would happen if a pony stumbled upon either of them.
"Whats on yer mind kiddo? worried a namby pamby pony has beaten yer record?" the old pony snarked after a while, a wide grin on his face, Ian looked over to the general and grimaced once more before speaking.
"Fearing what would happen if some of the most dangerous creatures i have faced have made their way to equestria, some are so powerful the guild has needed more than the normal four hunters to hunt down, especially if they are lurking in packs of two or more like the Wroggi and its brethren" the hunter said.
Twilight, her friends, Spike and the CMC all gasped at this revelation, they had all, if they did not witness it themselves, heard the story of how the hunter killed four of the raptors single-handedly with an axe that morphed into a large sword, but to find out that there were creatures powerful enough to warrant more than four warriors of Ian's caliber to defeat.
The grizzled general nodded his sympathy to the hunter's worries before speaking up once more.
"I have had similar worries in the past, worrying what would happen if the dragons i was fighting defeated us and swept down onto Canterlot itself, i personally have found no way to prevent such worrying thoughts other than doing something else to take your mind off of it, 'scuse me for being so vulgar around the young ones, but a good roll in th' hay is a great mind wiper" Full Guard said, a lecherous grin upon his face.
Upon mention of the adult action, many ears and cheeks upon the train cart reddened(Ian was surprised to see how much redder Bic Mac's face could get, he never knew there was such a dark shade of the color), not even the guards were safe, Ian noted(Ian thought it was funny to see a pair of the guards look at each-other and blush even worse upon catching each-others eyes), regardless to say, the foals, the dragonling and even Pinkie Pie herself were oblivious(although Ian noticed that Pinkie's cheeks were a shade darker nonetheless and that the was more than likely feigning innocence).
-------------------------------
The rest of the train ride was in a much lighter mood after the adult joke that Full Guard dropped, jokes of many types were spoken along the course of the locomotive's journey, from simple knock knocks to brainteasers(most of which were from Twilight and baffled everyone except Ian, who got them right every time), eventually all the ponies told Ian to watch the windows, and he did, his mouth dropping in awe at the white city resting upon the side of a mountain.
Throughout his entire life, Ian had only seen two cities of similar caliber, the sprawling desert city of Loc Lac, and the coastal trading city of Port Tanzia, but neither had the beauty of this marble city on a mountain, as the train pulled off onto a side track leading directly to the castle Full Guard spoke up once more, a grin on his grizzled face.
"How ya likin' Canterlot so far Hunter?" Ian slowly looked at the general, the awestruck look still on his face.
"I have never seen such a serene looking city in all my life, instead of the hustle and bustle of traders and fully armed hunters, there is only the calm of a city that has not seen the horror of war in more than a generation" the hunter said solemnly, the general nodded slowly.
"Aye, the closest Canterlot has been to all out war was the Changeling invasion a while ago, they snuck in to take over during Cap'n Armor's wedding a few months back, almost succeeded, until their Queen did the silly thing of letting the strongest Shieldmancer in a generation and the post powerful Love Sage of all time, whom were also the bride and groom, get close enough to combine their magics, blasted the whole hive of the shape-shifting bugs throughout Equestria with a giant Love powered Bubble Shield" Full Guard said, gaining a sheepish smile and small blush from said Groom, Ian looked over at the Guard Captain with new-found admiration, not only could the unicorn create the strongest Shield spell this generation, but his wife was able to use love to overpower his abilities.
The train finished pulling up to a station alongside the Castle of Canterlot, from what Ian could tell, this was the barracks station, where all the Canterlot army could arm themselves and pile onto a train headed almost anywhere, but the thing that caught his eye most of all, was the congregation waiting to greet the hunter and his quadrupedal compatriots.
Along the sides of a wide red carpet stood Guards and Soldiers of all races and gender, all stood at attention, the guards were obvious, their pristine white coats shining in the sun, and their equally brilliant golden armor shone with the beauty of the giant ball of gasses itself.
The Soldiers however, had a different garb, instead of small, exquisitely polished golden plates, the Army of Equestria wore armor fitting a force that was regularly sent out to protect Equestria, their large and bulky plate-mail was dinged and scratched, obvious signs of participation in combat, rank was easily noticeable as those of higher ranks had personalized their armor, and those of lower rank wore the standard plate.
At the end of the pair of columns stood four figures, one of which wore the battle scarred armor of the Soldiers, and as Full Guard settled beside her, she gave the grizzled veteran a respectful nod and a loving smile, her coat was a deep blood red and her eyes a striking pale violet, a pointed horn rose through her helm and the mark on her flank was a blazing sword crossed with a sparking spear.
On the opposite side of the two Soldiers, stood Shining Armor, giving a short salute to the younger stallion beside him, the younger stallion held his salute for longer, showing that he was Shining's second in command, this stallion had a striking orange coat, contrasted by his bright blue mane, his mark was a lightning bolt over a blue shield.
Finally, behind the leaders of the two protecting forces of Equestria stood a pair of taller ponies, each was a contrast of the other, the shorter of the two was a deep midnight blue, her mane was a swirling cosmos of stars, she wore dark regalia and upon her flank was a crescent moon over a black blotch, rising from her forehead was a horn and resting upon her sides were a pair of wings, her beautiful cyan eyes warily watched the otherworldly visitor.
Beside her was easily the elder of the royal sisters, her coat was a very pale pink, almost white and her mane was a swirling miasma of pink, green and blue, settled upon her flank was a stylized image of the sun, her magenta eyes seemed to shine with glee when they settled upon Twilight before they flicked towards Ian himself, the large regal alicorn respectfully inclined her head to the Monster Hunter, at this, Ian stepped forwards, striding up to the regal sisters, he removed his helm(which he had replaced upon his head as they pulled up to the station, he wanted his first impression to be of a fearsome warrior) and bowed deeply to the regal alicorn sisters.
"Greetings immortal alicorn diarchs of Equestria, I am Ian, master rank monster hunter of Loc Lac and Port Tanzia, you humble me with your presence" the alicorns looked surprised at Ian's introduction, he was very much like Twilight had mentioned in her letter, in contrast to how he seemed after he stepped off the train, but their demeanours fixed themselves as they regarded the prostrate form of the hunter before them.
"Rise, humble warrior, we are Princesses Celestia and Luna Evermore, and we are humbled in the presence of a warrior that has felled many beasts rivaling, if not dwarfing the creatures we ourselves have faced liberating this land" spoke Celestia, her matronly voice calming the warrior, like a warm blanket of light upon his ears.
"We are sure thou hast acquainted thyself with Captain Shining Armor and General Full Guard, We would like to introduce thou to Leftenant Flash Sentry of the Royal Canterlot Guard and Leftenant General Ruby Aegis of the Royal Equestrian Army" said Luna, her beautiful voice as serene as the night.
"An honor, I'm sure" sarcastically stated Flash Sentry, which gained him a glare from his superior officers(all three of them) and his diarchs, a scowling Ruby Aegis spoke up next.
"Ignore th' lit'l prick, grew up in th' lap o' luxury 'e did, Royal Guard training didn' beat some manners inta 'im, ah still think the piglet should take a year in Army boot camp before 'e can be prop'ly considered secon' in command o' th' Guard, but still, nice ta meetcha Hunter, good to meet a foreigner who's seen as much combat as Full an' I have" said Ruby Aegis, her cockney accent oddly pleasing to the ear.
"A pleasure, Lieutenant General, I am humbled by such a greeting by both the Royal Army and the Royal Guard, now, i must tell you of precautions to make about the creature we have captive" Ian stated, giving a respectful nod to the Lieutenant General before looking to the princesses.
"Of course Master Hunter, come, may We see thy beastie? We are verily curious as to what kind of creature 'tis, to say We are excited 'twould be an understatement!" Princess Luna exclaimed with childish joy, almost clopping her hooves together in giddy anticipation, Princess Celestia smiled at her sister and shaking her head before speaking to the hunter.
"Please forgive my sister, she is stuck in the past and can be quite foalish at the best of times" celestia said, smiling serenely, Ian simply grinned at the diarch cheekily.
"'Twould not be fun getting older if you had to completely grow up, and sometimes, making no sense at all can brighten up even the darkest of days doing my profession" the hunter said, grinning all the while, Ruby and Full barked laughs of approval to the way of life, while Celestia shook her head slowly.
"You would have gotten on famously with an old friend of mine and his son, it is too bad that he died a long time ago and his son grew insane with the weight of his chaotic powers upon his psyche" the serene matron said, frowning sadly, Ian went to open the siding to the cage holding the Wroggi when he heard a screeching noise off in the distance, a noise Ian recognized all to well.
Ian looked up towards the cry he heard overhead to see the dreaded Mimic the call belonged to, easily seeing the tropically colored bird flying high overhead, it's beak expanded out into it's iconic trumpet-like shape, red vocal sac inflated, crying out a great screeching call.
The great flying mimic landed upon the top of the train car holding the Great Wroggi and screeched at the princesses and the hunter, Ian reached behind himself and grasped the grip of his World's Demise in the small of his back, flicking it forwards, the lance locked into it's full length as the hunter readied himself into a fighting stance.
The monstrous bird huffed at the warrior, ruffling the feathers on it's back, before inflating the vocal sac, an eeriee noise warbled from the creature before screeching and becoming a recognizable speech pattern.
"Hummmmmm-aaaaan skrawk! I brrrrrr-ing a mmmmm-esssss-age frrrrrr-om the grrrrrrr-eat Drrrrrr-agonssssss skrawk!" fumbled the large bird, everyone was shocked when they heard the words fumbling out of the long beak of the beast, everyone gasped before it continued.
"Surrrrrrr-enderrrrr yourrrrrr-sssssself to yourrrrrrrr fate skrawk! We will not tolerrrrrrrrr-ate yourrrrrrr prrrrrrr-essssssence in thisssssss new land we intend to conquerrrrrrrr skrawk! you sssssssshall faaaaaaaa-ll skrawk!" the large tropical bird then deflated it's vocal sac, signalling that it was finished, everyone was speechless, and looking between themselves, Luna looked to the hunter.
"What dost it mean? what is this... creature, Hunter?" the lunar diarch asked, Ian looked to the archaically speaking moon goddess with a grim frown.
"Qurupeco are simple mimics, they mimic the cries of other creatures almost perfectly and use it to call monsters to attack those hunting it, but never has one been witnessed mimicking speech, however, the message is cryptic, and we have no means of clarification on the plans of whatever taught it to deliver this message" Ian replied before looking down, deep in thought
"But... what it mentioned, 'the great dragons', we know of few in my world, and each I have hunted, but never have they spoken to us, I wonder, are some of these creatures smarter than we have been led to believe by their outward demeanor? we may never know, but I know what it means to do, it means to eliminate me" Ian glared at the large colorful bird, which inflated it's vocal sac once more before screeching at the hunter and taking off once more.
Ian moved to follow the monster as it flew to the other side of the castle, but a hoof moved to stop him, the hunter turned around to see Full Guard holding him back, behind the grizzled guard, stood Ruby Aegis, Shining Armor, Big Macintosh and Twilight, all with determined looks on their faces.
"We're goin' with ya lad, ye may need reinforcements te take down the beastie, and a few veterans of combat wouldnae hurt eh? not to mention a few green hooves, but a trial by fire is always a good way to train" Full Guard said, the others nodding their agreement by his sides, Ian nodded swiftly to the general, before moving to the armaments and armor along the train station's barracks.
Eying up the weapons and armor Ian picked a few select pieces for the ponies of the group that wanted to fight, he passed a set of wing blades to Rainbow Dash(after getting an explanation of what they were used for) and a set of light leather armor(which, like all leather used by ponies, was a substitute version of hides), to allow for her flight to be unhindered, to Twilight he passed a short sword and enchanted armor.(which, as he was told, was hard to make, as it required a large amount of magic to cast the enchantment that made the fake leather hard as steel) Ian then passed matching scale mail armor to Big Mac and Applejack, as well as a mace to the mare and a maul to the stallion(both opted to forgo their helmets, preferring their own adornments of a stetson and a yoke for the mare and stallion respectively), surprisingly, Pinkie also volunteered, picking her own gear of a large hatchet and a set of old bloodstained leather armor that was deemed unworthy by it's previous owner(the mare also had a slightly crazed grin upon her face when Ian looked at her, but when he looked back, it was mysteriously gone, replaced with her normal gleeful one), unfortunately, all the armor was mostly ill fitting, and every pony hefted their weapons the wrong way.(except Big Mac and Pinkie, each hefted their tools as if they had wielded something similar in the past, and with relative ease despite the weight of their weapons)
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Before long, the group set out into the town to combat the bird(will many well wished from both princesses, Luna herself looked like she wished she could join the combat, but Celestia forbade her), everypony had a look of grim determination on their faces, the small combat force walked in their own groups, Full Guard(whom hefted a rather large, shiny sword like a twig, apparently it was an entire scale from the first adult dragon he slew, and was extremely sharp, dense and lightweight) walked beside Ruby Aegis(whom had a shield of solid ruby and a scythe with a matching head floating in her ruby red magical grasp, apparently they were made from a Ruby Golem the unicorn had felled singlehoofedly), the two talking between themselves.
Shining Armor marched by his sister's side, giving the younger mare pointers on how to use the weapon properly, in a sheathe on his side held an ornate longsword, and floating in his magical grasp was a golden pike and a large, gilded tower shield, trailing behind the captain of the guard and his sister was an unhappy Flash Sentry, whom was forced to come, attached to his wings were a set of over-ornate wing blades which looked as if they had never seen battle before, the unhappy pegasus was shooting glares at the back of his three superior's heads as well as at Ian himself.
Finally, trailing in the back were Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and surprisingly, Fluttershy, whom was carrying a large white pack with a large red cross printed on it, Pinkie was bouncing along happily, her heavy axe held much like a twig in her mouth as she bounced, literally bounced along, while Fluttershy and Rainbow were hovering along, talking to each-other.
Eventually, the group caught sight of the Qurupeco, it was perched on the steeple of a Celestial church near the castle itself, it looked to be waiting for it's foe, when it caught sight of it's opponents, it puffed out it's vocal sac before letting free a screeching cry, similar to it's own, a second cry came in reply, as the cousin of the Qurupeco flew onto the roof of the opposite building.
The Crimson Qurupeco, let off another cry of it's own, before the two puffed up their vocal sacs in complete synchronization, letting out a bark and a howl, simultaneously, before ten bipedal figures burst out of the marble streets, said figures had double kneed, digitigrade legs, their fur was a slate grey, although some had more brown colored fur, and seemed to be canine in appearance, each wore brighter grey plate-mail armor and horned war helmets, in their paws they held either a jagged and worn short sword or a rusty war pick.
"Diamond Dogs" Ian heard Full Guard growl as the grizzled general stood up on his hind legs, looming over Ian in height, out from the bottoms of his bracers a pair of translucent five digit hands grew, the grizzled warrior gripped his great-sword in his new hands and leveled his weapon at the bipedal dogs.
"Let's dance Hunter" the old soldier said, grinning, before charging the dogs with a war cry.
Full Guard charged the leading Diamond Dog, and ended it's existence with a single swing, it's canine head rolling on the ground as it's body slumped over, it's sword falling, clanging on the cobbled marble street, Ruby followed in kind, her horn lighting brightly as she summoned hard-magic stairs to charge straight at the Crimson Qurupeco, many hard-magic shards flying around her as a barrier and her shield and scythe floating at her sides.
The Crimson Qurupeco screeched at the charging soldier, however, it's reverberating cry did not stall the battle-hardened Valkyrie as she continued in her charge, twirling her adapted farming tool in her magical grip.
Four of the mares of the group, looked on in shock at how quickly life had been taken on this battlefield, Fluttershy looked like she was going to faint already, but she held on from a hoof on her withers from Pinkie, the pink mare gave a comforting smile to her friend.
"Don't worry Fluttershy! You'll get used to it, i was sick for a few weeks after i killed my first D-Dog in defense! they didn't like our farm being where it was!" the chipper mare said, a comforting smile on her face, "just remember! giggle at the ghosties! they can only hurt you if you let them, and besides! the author wouldn't let anyone DIE, at least, not yet anyways, it's only chapter eight after all!" Pinkie finished with a giggle.
Ian and her friends looked at the mare astonishingly, she had fought before? killed even? it was something that they could never picture in a million years, Ian shook his head slightly before steeling his look and speaking.
"Welcome to the war zone girls, it's kill or be killed now" the hunter said ominously, before his lance glowed ominously, and once the light was gone, the large silver weapon was replaced with a large axe-like sword, the blade on one side was a dark black color, while the rest was white, upon the side of the sword were a pair of glyphs, the meaning of which were unknown to the mares.
The hunter then charged up to the diamond dogs beside Full Guard, swinging his large Cera Cymmetry at a dog, severing it's torso from it's legs at the waist before bringing the large blade up to block the pickaxe of another dog, Full Guard glanced to the hunter beside him.
"Where'd ya get that sword Hunter? ya didn't have it a second ago" the grizzled warrior pondered over the large horn blade, Ian used it to gut another dog before replying.
"Some ability I have found that I have upon entering this world, I can use it to access any weapon that I owned back in my world, I do not fully understand it myself" the hunter said, once more blocking an incoming blade.
-------meanwhile, with the other combatants--------
Shining Armor dived out of the way of the large bird that dived at him, quickly bringing his tower shield up beside him as the Qurupeco pecked at him, deflecting the beak, before he swung his sword and stabbed his pike at the creature from opposite angles, the creature squawked at the pain, before it landed on it's claws, and it started clapping the large brown pieces of bone on the arches of it's wings.
sparks flew with every clap, and then it jumped for Shining Armor, it's bone protrusions creating a large explosion of flame over the shield that the unicorn formed around him, he swore silently before turning to the ponies fighting the bird alongside him.
"Big Mac, Flash, Applejack, keep an eye for that attack again, i don't think we'd want to get hit by that" the captain of the guard said, Big Mac looked on impassively, chewing on a stalk of chaff all the while, as he tested his grip on his maul with his fore hooves, he was using it as he had used a firewood axe in the past, both on trees and Timber Wolves.
"Eeyup, don' wanna know what'd happen if that hit" the usually silent stallion spoke, glaring at the bird, which squawked once more, Flash Sentry scoffed before flapping up the the large bird.
"I doubt it's smart enough to know it has no way of winning, it's dead no matter what it does" the cocky stallion said, patting the carnivorous bird on the beak, a grin on his face all the while, what the idiot failed to notice, was that the bird had flicked it's jaws away from his hoof and around the arrogant pony.
"Flash! you idiot!" Shining Armor yelled as he charged at the bird, which began pinning the screaming pegasus to the ground, Applejack giggled to herself before trotting after Shining to help save the idiot, while big mac simply introduced his hoof to his face before surging forwards.
----------------meanwhile, with the others fighting Crimson---------------
Ruby Aegis was agilely avoiding the Crimson Qurupeco's attacks, using hard-magic constructions to fling her around, never striking the same place twice, the large bird's beak was wounded already, a well placed scythe cut straight through the stretchy membranes forming the collapsible trumpet.
Twilight was easily flinging rocks and cobblestones from the environment at the large bird, she hadn't even touched the sword at her side as she swung stone after stone at the creature, in her concentration however, she barely noticed the gleefully screaming pink mass that she launched with a rock at the bird.
Pinkie was having the time of her life, bouncing around the nearby buildings, the Crimson Qurupeco's head and the rocks Twilight was flinging at their foe, she would periodically axe the bird a question as she flew by, in both motion and words.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was making sure Fluttershy would not be struck in the combat, batting away globs of steaming hot saliva spat their way by the bird, but what she was not ready for however, was for the frustrated bird to scream in defiance and knock the three combatants and herself away. Twilight, Pinkie, Ruby and Rainbow all smashed into solid marble walls, all dazed from the high speed contact with the dense stone.
Fluttershy was now woefully unguarded as the large red bird loomed over her, saliva dripping from it's jaws, it rolled the frightened mare over, exposing her belly and where all the tastier parts of it's prey were kept, it pinned the scared pegasus to the ground, however, before it could dig into it's meal of pony, it was tackled in the side of the head at high speeds and it tumbled to the ground.
Rainbow Dash raised her sword over her head and brought the blade down on the creatures neck multiple times, until, finally, the head was finally severed from it's body, long after the bird's windpipe was crushed and Rainbow Dash had run out of tears, the normally brash mare collapsed into sobs, and continually muttered the words 'I will not let another die on me, no, never again'.
----------------back to Flash being mutilated ----------------
Shining Armor struck at the colorful bird that was standing atop the once cocky, screaming Flash Sentry, crushing his wings to dust and scratching his face to Tartarus, Big Macintosh and Applejack were continually smashing at the knees of the large bird trying to get it to budge, knowing that if it was left to do as it was, Flash was going to die.
Almost from out of nowhere, however, a large explosion blossomed from the side of the Qurupeco's face, knocking it to the ground, Shining Armor and Applejack quickly dragged the heavily wounded Flash Sentry from the combat, whom was groaning in heavy pain, Big Mac looked in the direction that the shot came from and saw Ian, a large blue handheld cannon in his hands, the weapon was open, showcasing a rotary loading system, the large shell being loaded into the weapon had markings on it(which Big Mac could just barely notice that it read CRSL2), and once it was in, the hunter clicked the weapon shut.
Ian Aimed his Nether Salvatore at the head of the Qurupeco once more and pulled the trigger, letting loose a powerful shot, the powerful Lv2 Crag Shot exploded violently, slamming the bird into the wall of a nearby building, Ian replaced the Crag shot with a much more powerful replacement, a red shell labelled WyvnFr.
The hunter charged up to the side of the fallen bird, which was struggling to stand back up and took up a crouching stance before beginning to charge up his powerful shot, with a large explosion of fire, the beast thrashed no more, the Qurupeco was dead.
Ian silently stood, eying the carnage, watching the now mortified mares that he had met astonished at what had happened, especially the sobbing form that was Rainbow Dash, covered in blood, Big Mac and Pinkie silently walked up to the hunter's sides as he watched Shining, Ruby and Full Guard taking Flash to the castle's infirmary on a stretcher made of hard magic.
"Th' Girls didn' understand what would be at risk, ah hope they don' change too much after seein' this kind a combat" Big Mac said solemnly, Pinkie nodded by his side.
"I honestly didn't think I would need to do that kind of stuff again, protecting the Rock Farm from Diamond Dogs is much more different to fighting giant birds that could eat your friends" the pink mare sighed before giving the hunter a weak smile. "and don't think I forgot to give you a real Ponyville welcome! it's just... not the right time for a party" she said, before her hair drooped a bit.
Ian only knew one thing, and that was that Canterlot was safe... at least... it was for now.
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